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Check out the cool module by Stephen Greer that Wizards just posted on their website today (2/11/08). You need to be registered with Wizards/Gleemax to get it, and you can download it from http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/duad/20080211.
While I'm not likely to have pc's high enough to play it for some time, should they survive to 18th level, I'd love to give it a shot.
Hope you all enjoy this adventure. It was a ton of fun to write and playtest. It would have been the coolest to see it in actual print, but that's OK. The .pdf is very attractive and the artwork really captured the imagery I was going for.
I had heard some horror stories about WotC editors nearly re-writing some of their writers' entire drafts. But Chris actually left mine about 98% intact the way it was when I turned it over. He removed one encounter with cultists, but that seems to have been about it. Very happy about that. :)
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Thanks for the link guys – and the adventure Steve! Looks good. Pity it needed to be in delve format, but …. ~shrugs~
Oh, and you don’t need to be registered with Gleemax to get it. For some reason, I’m unable to register, but Lilith taught me this trick – if someone is kind enough to post a link, as Rauol has done – follow the link and click on “Printer Friendly Version” at the bottom of the page. You will have the option to download the PDF version, even if you’re not registered.
Steve, is this an homage to the 2nd ed. "Return to the Tomb of Horrors" super-adventure Monte (EDIT: or was that Bruce Cordell) wrote? B/c that was just pure awesomeness. Though I'm wondering about how it would fit in w/ the timeline; if Acererak isn't yet a demilich, would this adventure chronologically precede "Return..."? Actually, it would have to chronologically precede the original "Tomb of Horrors", too, as he was already a demilich at that time...wanders away confused...maybe I just need to download it myself and see what you did :)
Steve, is this an homage to the 2nd ed. "Return to the Tomb of Horrors" super-adventure Monte (EDIT: or was that Bruce Cordell) wrote? B/c that was just pure awesomeness. Though I'm wondering about how it would fit in w/ the timeline; if Acererak isn't yet a demilich, would this adventure chronologically precede "Return..."? Actually, it would have to chronologically precede the original "Tomb of Horrors", too, as he was already a demilich at that time...wanders away confused...maybe I just need to download it myself and see what you did :)
This is a different Acererak; a simulacrum who used an artifact to become a real boy.
If I run it, I'll probably replace Acererak with the greatest of the skull lords (MMV) - I've been hyping them as potential campaign villains for a series of games I run when I come home from college.
I saw this one just today and I say congrats for getting it published. The quality of the adventures Wizards has been offering is what has kept me optimistic about digital Dungeon.
Steve, is this an homage to the 2nd ed. "Return to the Tomb of Horrors" super-adventure Monte (EDIT: or was that Bruce Cordell) wrote? B/c that was just pure awesomeness. Though I'm wondering about how it would fit in w/ the timeline; if Acererak isn't yet a demilich, would this adventure chronologically precede "Return..."? Actually, it would have to chronologically precede the original "Tomb of Horrors", too, as he was already a demilich at that time...wanders away confused...maybe I just need to download it myself and see what you did :)
The reply two posts up answers your question, but I'll explain a little further...
The simulacrum, left to its own devices, figured out how to use a massive artifact with the outward appearances of a tower, to become a real creature. This adventure finds the new incarnation of Acererak attempting to become a demilich like its original creator.
So, no, it's not taking a trip back in time. This is just another form of Acererak.
I wrote this adventure with heavy connection to Return to the Tomb of Horrors by building off the missing tower in Moil that Bruce Cordell described in his mega adventure.
So, to answer your question, yes it is an homage to Return to..., but I specifically wrote it as an homage to Gary Gygax himself, who created Acererak and the original Tomb of Horrors that both mine and Bruce Cordell's adventures are grounded in.
This is one cool adventure that seriously kicked our butts at Gen Con.
A little taste of your own medicine? ;)
A little taste of your own medicine? ;)
The groans of horror were audible from the table I sat at.
Good. A good, solid adventure. I can't use it as-is, but it looks like I can "borrow" most of it in great big chunks.
(Points off for the formatting -- if the encounter pages aren't bookmarked, can they at least be numbered? -- but that isn't Steve's fault.)
Slightly off topic but in your bio Steve its says "he’s a gun-toting process server". What the heck does tht mean? Good to see a new adventure out by you. I was thinking when is Steve going to put out some more material besides of couse PF#5.
Simple answer: I have a dangerous job delivering unpleasant legal papers to people (sometimes forcefully, of necessity) and carrying a gun is necessary for my own protection.
Thanks for the nod, S_S. Hope you enjoy it!
Castle Perilous is fantastic. Acererak anyone?
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Slightly off topic but in your bio Steve its says "he’s a gun-toting process server". What the heck does tht mean? Good to see a new adventure out by you. I was thinking when is Steve going to put out some more material besides of couse PF#5.Simple answer: I have a dangerous job delivering unpleasant legal papers to people (sometimes forcefully, of necessity) and carrying a gun is necessary for my own protection.
Thanks for the nod, S_S. Hope you enjoy it!
Wicked! I do deliveries for living and some times I wish I had a gun but not for my own protection ( I kid, I kid!)Ya, I love your stuff, you just need to write more!
Heh. I seem to remember Greg V. doing pretty well, but Greg O's (Oppedisano) paladin got ripped to bite size shreds. I got called an anal orifice for it, too. Ah, good times. :)
Ok, I recently downloaded this. Looks quite nice, and they really gave you some primo art. Respect!
The art work is definitely nice!
I did find an error in Merkkor's stat block in area 13.
Melee incorporeal touch +25 (3d6 plus 1d8 Constitution drain)
I originally gave him Improved Natural Attack (incorporeal touch) multiple times giving him a whopping 8d6 damage plus the 1d8 Con drain. There must be an errata that says you can't take it multiple times on the same natural weapon or something since Chris Youngs changed it. However, he gave it the damage stats for a regular wraith by mistake and didn't factor in the Improved Natural Attack feat.
I want to know what kind of heat Steve packs. I took my girlfriend to the shooting range on Valentine's Day. It was her first time firing a handgun. When she brought her paper target into the office today and hung it up at her desk it caused a bit of a flurry.
I want to know what kind of heat Steve packs. I took my girlfriend to the shooting range on Valentine's Day. It was her first time firing a handgun. When she brought her paper target into the office today and hung it up at her desk it caused a bit of a flurry.
I carry a Taurus Millennium PT145. It's a great size for wearing concealed or on the hip and as a .45 cal it has a whole lot of stopping power.
That's cool that your girlfriend likes to shoot guns, too. My wife does as well, though we haven't been out to the shooting range together for her to fire off some rounds with this particular gun.
Nice piece, Steve...
Oh... and I liked the adventure as well.
Nice piece, Steve...
Oh... and I liked the adventure as well.
Thanks. On both counts.
Steve, thanks for the adventure, it looks great. I haven't had a chance to read it front-to-back yet, but it will serve me well in the waning days of my current campaign.
A quick question though:
Thanks,
Greg
Steve, thanks for the adventure, it looks great. I haven't had a chance to read it front-to-back yet, but it will serve me well in the waning days of my current campaign.
Very happy to hear you like it. :)
Saint Pentival played more of a role in the adventure as first written, but with each revision, he became less and less important to the overall adventure. In the final print version, he's been dead a long, long time and he's mainly a red herring to lure adventurers to The Sundered Tower of Moil. I was going to add his body in the Cadaver Chamber (area 13) and write up a sidebar about how using speak with dead might reveal some clues, but I was so beyond my word count (thanks to Delve Format) by the final version that I didn't do it. Anyway, that's where his body would be if you want to follow through with that hook. You can add any important stuff you want the PCs to get from him as described in one of the adventure hooks in Acererak's lair (the dungeon level).
Very happy to hear you like it. :)
** spoiler omitted **
Thanks for that. For me, the "red herring" will have a powerfully good-aligned minor artifact the party will be going to retrieve. (Being good-aligned is a good enough reason why Acererak would have left it with the body I figure.)
Greg
A wonderful addition to the Tomb of Horrors saga. It's about time that someone came up with this. Props.
I haven't read this from start to finish yet, but what I've seen so far looks really good. Nice work, Steve.
Additionally, in Last months' Dungeon, Robert Schwalb penned a true classic that has the Player Characters trying to stop Tharizdun from escaping, called "Essence of Evil". This adventure makes use of the Homlett/RttToEE villain Lareth the Beautiful. It's for 20th level characters. Check it out.
Some good stuff from Dungeon of late to allow fellow Killer GM's to lay waste to their Desperately-needing-to-die player's characters.
It warms my heart to hear that you guys are digging Prisoner. Thanks!
This is a very nice looking adventure Steve, thanks for writing it. Its nice to see someone trying to fleshes out the Acererak story a bit.
Quick question though. Did you name the module or did Wizards? Its just that the first thing that went through my mind was that "Castle Perilous" is the name of the Witch-King Zhengyi's castle in RA Salvatores Sellswords and Bloodstone books and modules in Forgotten Realms.
Just curious.
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This is a very nice looking adventure Steve, thanks for writing it. Its nice to see someone trying to fleshes out the Acererak story a bit.
Quick question though. Did you name the module or did Wizards? Its just that the first thing that went through my mind was that "Castle Perilous" is the name of the Witch-King Zhengyi's castle in RA Salvatores Sellswords and Bloodstone books and modules in Forgotten Realms.
Just curious.
Cool. Happy to hear you liked it.
The name is mine, or as much as the term "castle perilous" can be called mine. Its actually a generic term referring to the numerous prisons adrift throughout the Negative Energy Plane. You can read a bit more about them in Manual of the Planes pg. 82. The term was first used in John DeChancie's Siege Perilous, fables of King Arthur. Google "castle perilous" some time and you'll find a whole lot of references to tales of King Arthur.So, there you go.
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I just read your adventure and I love it (it was pointed out to me by a friend who knew I was working on an epic level version of Return to the Tomb of Horrors and thought I might get some ideas...which I did, naturally). I have a couple of quick questions:
What exactly is the source of Acererak's regeneration? I was thinking it might be because of the Soul Crown...which brings me to question 2:
What happened to the write-up for the Soul Crown? Under Acererak's write up, it states to see the Appendix, but the only thing there is the machine itself and how the crown limits the wearer to being within that room when said machine is in use.
Loved the adventure. Am looking forward to causing much wailing and tooth gnashing in the night with it.
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Well, I'm (checks watch) eight years late, but the players had a GREAT time with this. Well written, interesting encounters, and a story that the players can uncover.
My hat is off to you, Mr Greer, for giving me the MacGuffin for the end of my campaign. After this, the players are going through the last three quarters of Return to the Tomb of Horrors, and then the last bit of Ari Manell's 4th edition Tomb of Horrors.
Yep, they're going to fight Acererak three times, each more powerful than the previous iteration.
Cool. Happy to hear you liked it.
The name is mine, or as much as the term "castle perilous" can be called mine. Its actually a generic term referring to the numerous prisons adrift throughout the Negative Energy Plane. You can read a bit more about them in Manual of the Planes pg. 82. The term was first used in John DeChancie's Siege Perilous, fables of King Arthur. Google "castle perilous" some time and you'll find a whole lot of references to tales of King Arthur.
So, there you go.